Anna Urbanová’s Villa

This three-storey building with a rectangular ground-plan was built for the wife of a former prosecutor in Hradec Králové in a residential area near the historical city centre. Its features echo functionalism, and it is partly related to the Zlín functionalism, combining exposed brickwork and the principles of the architectural avant-garde. The cubic house has a flat roof. The façade combines large smooth white plastered surfaces, windows regularly spaced in several axes, and brick strips emphasizing some of the edges of the building. The first half-sunk ground floor mostly housed technical facilities and accommodation for servants in a one-room flat with a kitchen. The technical facilities included a laundry room, a drying room, and coal storage. On the raised ground floor, accessed from the staircase on the side of the building and then through the main entrance, there is a kitchen with the maid’s room, a living room, a bathroom, the hallway, and the staircase hall connecting the main living floor with the upper floor. The staircase did not line the perimeter of the staircase hall, as was the custom until then. The architect rather designed an extravagant staircase which descends diagonally through the hall. On the first floor, there is Mr and Mrs Urban’s master bedroom with a large dressing room for the lady of the house connected to a bathroom and a smaller guest room with a small dressing room. From this floor, one can enter the balcony of approximately four square meters. The total floor area of the villa is about 255 square metres, and each floor has approximately the same area. The project was designed by architect Bedřich Novotný; the executive architect of the project was, however, architect Ondřej Rádl. The construction began on 22 May 1933 and was completed less than five months later. On 15 September 1933, it was approved and passed into use. The villa has undergone reconstruction, which can be considered sensitive. A garage was built next to the building.